


Finally (it's the way we connect)

by Adlersong



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and stuff, I'm just very reluctant/lazy about posting things, Touch, written in the 3-4 hiatus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-21 15:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3697415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adlersong/pseuds/Adlersong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three snapshots of a life lived together</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finally (it's the way we connect)

Regina is talking to Robin about organizing the lost boys and the merry men into a mentor program when Emma's arms wrap around her shoulders in a hug. This is such a regular occurrence when Emma enters a conversation with her that she doesn't even tense, doesn't resist the feeling or compare it to being bound. The first time Emma had done this Regina had felt a brief moment of panic, sure that she was about to be lifted off the ground and kept there for as long as Cora felt she deserved, but her feet stayed on the ground and she relaxed as Emma propped her chin against Regina's shoulder, leaning her head towards Regina's as she spoke to whoever it was Regina had been talking to. She does this now, grinning slightly as she asks if they're talking about getting the merry men to give back to the community instead of just building up a tag at Granny's diner and the Rabbit Hole and then frolicking in the woods. Robin isn't quite a police deputy- that job remains solely David's, although Ruby has been more and more interested in trying the job again now that it involves less murder- but he has been a good liaison between the original people of Storybrooke and everyone who came afterwards and has kept the peace more times than anyone would like to admit it was almost broken. He and Marian are expecting a second child now, and while Marian might never wholly trust Regina she has accepted her as an ally who has drastically changed from who she was. They occasionally come to the ridiculous community dinners the Charmings organize every month- a quasi-potluck affair that almost always ends up being dwarven stew and Granny's meatloaf that almost everyone in town buys once a week anyways. Robin responds with a dig about the sheer volume of city money that goes towards bear claws and coffee but something in his gaze doesn't quite fit with playful banter. It's happy, but far too soft and knowing, and Regina realizes she would never have had to tell him she had found love again. They knew each other too well, and even if neither of them was in love with the other anymore- and realizing that soulmates didn't always have to mean in love was a big step in becoming what they are today, two people who can stand in a room without the world feeling like it was falling apart and incredibly wrong- Robin still knew what love looked like on Regina's face as she reached behind Emma to hug her back while Emma replied that the city budget would be better off without hoodlums of various ages trying to hunt pigeons in the park, and would someone please take all the projectiles away from little john before there were no benches left. 

Regina had noticed, in that awful few weeks where Henry didn't remember her and she spent her time unravelling mystery after mystery about the last year and Zelena and Robin and ignoring the suspicious looks Henry gave her every time she slipped up and said something no stranger would know, just how much Emma hugged Henry. She supposed it was because Emma still had over a decade of memories of Henry. She'd held Henry as a baby, helped him fix his hair and walked him across the street. She'd had years to get used to Henry, to care about him in the way that she hadn't when he first brought her to Storybrooke. Regina envied that, and thought about Neverland and about the hug they had given him when they finally rescued him from Pan. It wasn't until later that she acknowledged that what she wanted wasn't just to hold Henry and have him recognize her again but the two of them protecting Henry, embracing him together as a family. Nearly two years after Regina had ripped Henry's heart out of Pan's body and put it back where it belonged group hugs were a near daily occurrence in their house. Emma made a habit of giving hugs out to both of them at random moments: as they were making dinner, while Regina helped Henry with homework, as everyone went off to their respective places in the morning. It was a kind of constant tactile support that left a warm feeling inside Regina, and as she watched Emma reach down- less and less so every week it seemed, and soon Henry would grow taller than either of them- and ruffle Henry's hair as he went upstairs she realized that her family was constantly surrounding her, even when they weren't touching. 

Regina balanced her book on the tops of Emma's feet in her lap, trying not to laugh at the sheriff's furrowed brow as she translated the latest police reports. Emma finally flopped the papers down, which would have been much more dramatic had her arms not been level with the coffee table, and stretched out. This jostled the book enough that Regina turned and looked at Emma, one eyebrow raised in mock annoyance.  
"I really need to teach David how to use a computer. His handwriting is terrible." Regina smirked and carefully repositioned her book.  
"To be fair, he was illiterate for the first twenty-odd years of his life." Emma sighed dramatically and picked the pages back up. After a few minutes, she gave up and made a note in the margins to ask David what some of the entries said. Judging by what looked to be baby food stains on them, she guessed that he had filled them out while trying to feed baby Neal- a difficult task by itself, let alone trying to write a report on a house burglary that turned out to be Goldilocks 'borrowing flour' from her neighbors. Putting her papers down quietly this time, she watched Regina read her book and drink apple cider from one of the deceptively tiny glasses and she smiled. Later, Emma would move so that her head was in Regina's lap while she tried to finish her book and Regina would act annoyed, but with a smile that shone through the disapproving look she tried to give, eventually abandoning the pretense entirely as Emma leaned up to kiss her.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first fic I've posted on Ao3, which seems really odd seeing as I've been here for a while.


End file.
